Exhibitions at Carpenters Workshop Gallery opening in February

Three exciting exhibitions will be opening at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery this month, starting on 9th February and running until the 26th April 2024.

HunRod Gold – Michele Lamy & Loree Rodkin x Rick Owens (9 February – 26 April 2024)

First up, Carpenters Workshop Jewellery will present Michele Lamy & Loree Rodkin’s HUNROD GOLD – a collaboration between celebrated artist Michele Lamy and acclaimed jewellery designer Loree Rodkin, presented with Rick Owens Furniture. This will be the first showing of this collection in a curated setting and will be exhibited alongside the original collaboration between the two, HunRod. Lamy and Rodkin have described the collection’s items as “finger armour” with the pieces having been inspired by the Chinese Zodiac.

Crafted from 18kt yellow and white gold, the HunRod Gold collection features diamond-adorned rings including The Rat Ring, with 171 diamonds, that embodies versatility and charm; the Snake Ring with its pear-shaped diamond; The Monkey Ring, ablaze with 61 white diamonds, capturing the vibrancy of those born in the Year of the Monkey; the Ox Ring, the Dragon Ring with red ruby eyes, and the Pig Ring which have all been adorned with 253 diamonds. Each ring in the collection embodies the unique characteristics of its
respective animal.

By displaying the groundbreaking jewellery work of Michele Lamy alongside Rick Owens’ furniture pieces, the pairs common language and shared artistic perspective is brought to the fore. This allows their work to be seen in conversation, adding a distinctive layer of artistic synergy to the presentation. This collaboration not only accentuates the
avant-garde nature of Lamy’s jewellery and Owens’ furniture, but also creates an immersive experience that brings the viewer into dialogue with the artists.

Loïc Le Gaillard, co-founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Entrepreneur and producer Lamy is business partner to her husband Rick Owens with whom she has built the Owenscorp Empire. Rodkin has gone from designing the homes of rock stars to talent manager – launching the careers of then-young unknowns such as Brad Pitt, Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker. She then went on to jewellery design, creating intricate pieces for icons such as Madonna, Steven Tyler, Elton John, Cher (her best friend) and others. She also had the honour of designing First Lady Michelle Obama’s inaugural jewellery in 2009.

Suspended Disbelief – Wendell Castle (9 February – 26 April 2024)

Also at the Carpenters Gallery is Suspended Disbelief by the pioneering American sculptor and designer Wendell Castle (1932 – 2018). Considered to be the founding father of the American Art Furniture movement, the exhibition shows his later woodwork from 2011 to 2015 when Castle returned to bio-morphism (the modelling of artistic elements on naturally occurring patterns, biological forms and shapes), his signature style from the 1960s and 1970s.

Unlike traditional methods of building up materials, Castle would carve from large, glued and clamped wooden blocks which gave his pieces structural integrity and enabled him to sculpt complex forms. His innovative technique of carving stacked, laminated wood and fibreglass helped him create elongated, organic forms of the works featured. New techniques and methods saw the artist also feature steel, bronze and nickel.

Wendell Castle’s legacy is a testament to the power of visionary design. His work crosses over in the worlds of sculpture, design and craft, offering endless inspiration to new generations of artists and designers. His mastery of materials, transforming them into fluid, functional art, continues to challenge and expand our understanding of creation and craftsmanship.

Loic Le Gaillard

Wendell Castle moved to Rochester, New York in the 1960s to teach at the School for American Crafts. There he established a permanent studio in the area that is still in operation today. His works can be found in the permanent collections of more than forty museums and cultural institutions, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the White House in Washington, D.C. He has also been the recipient of many honours and awards, including four National Endowment for the Arts grants and the Modernism Lifetime Achievement Award from the Brooklyn Museum in 2007.

From California With Love – Roger Herman (9 February – 26 April 2024)

A collection of new works by multidisciplinary artist Roger Herman, To California With Love will showcase fifteen of Herman’s latest large, hand-crafted ceramics as well as a selection of six large-scale paintings.

Both Herman’s paintings and the ceramics correspond to each other within the gallery space; the interplay between the various mediums highlights the artist’s instinctive methods and his distinctive palette—which has been developed through experimental work with clay, glazes and kilns—that manifests in both colour and form.

We are thrilled to unveil Roger Herman’s new body of work at our London gallery, where his talent is vividly expressed across diverse mediums. His ceramics and paintings aren’t just parallel works, they are intricately interwoven, each a natural extension and reflection of the other.

Loic Le Gaillard

Roger Herman was born in Germany, later relocating to LA where he became a teacher at UCLA in the 1980s. He shifted to ceramics after taking lessons from one of his students where he cast some 500 pots whilst perfecting his technique.

He has exhibited his work in galleries across the world and is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). His work has been featured at fairs such as the Frieze New York, Design Miami, and Art Los Angeles Art Contemporary. He has also participated in numerous group shows at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Museum Ludwig, Saarlouis, Germany, and the Art Museum of São Paulo, Brazil among others.

More information about these exhibitions can be found on the Carpenters Workshop Gallery website.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery
79 Barlby Road
W10 6AZ
carpentersworkshopgallery.com